The Swiss Federal Ministry of Economics, Education and Research announced on April 30 that the internal review and approval process for the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement has been completed and that the agreement will officially enter into force on July 1.
The Swiss Federal Ministry of Economics, Education and Research said in a written statement that day that the Switzerland-China bilateral free trade agreement will improve market access for goods and services from both sides, strengthen the legal protection of intellectual property rights and bilateral economic and trade exchanges, and Tariffs will be fully or partially eliminated in most economic and trade areas.
After nine rounds of negotiations over more than two years, China and Switzerland officially signed the free trade agreement in Beijing in July 2013. This was the first free trade agreement signed between China and a continental European country. In December last year and March this year, the lower house and upper house of the Swiss Federal Parliament passed the free trade agreement respectively.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated that this agreement is one of the highest-level and most comprehensive free trade agreements China has reached with foreign countries in recent years. It not only has a high proportion of zero tariffs in goods trade, but also established a good mechanism for bilateral cooperation in areas such as watches and clocks. , and involves many new rules such as environment and intellectual property rights, will further enhance the level of Sino-Swiss bilateral economic and trade cooperation and deepen Sino-European economic and trade cooperation.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, after the agreement takes effect, Sweden will immediately implement zero tariffs on 99.7% of China’s exports, and China will eventually implement zero tariffs on 84.2% of Sweden’s exports. If some products with reduced tariffs are included , the proportion of Swiss products participating in tax reduction is 99.99%, and that of China is 96.5%. In terms of industrial products, the products that Switzerland has significantly reduced taxes on China include textiles, clothing, shoes and hats, auto parts and metal products. These are China’s main export interest products, and Sweden promises to implement zero tariffs immediately from the date of the agreement’s entry into force.
